One-way tickets from Singapore to popular destinations like Bangkok have been offered for less than one US dollar each in promotions as low-cost carriers slug it out to gain market share and capture public attention.

Newcomer Tiger Airways fired the first shot by offering one-way tickets to three Thai destinations for 59 cents. Thai Air Asia retaliated with a 29-cent one-way ticket to Bangkok.

"AirAsia tames even the wildest tiger with low fares," the Malaysia-based Air Asia group screamed in a full-page newspaper advertisement.

The price war is good news to travel-hungry Asians who in the past had to contend with the fares charged by full-service carriers. For instance, a return ticket to Bangkok from Singapore with a full-service carrier can easily set one back by an average of $250.

Southeast Asians are now however spoilt for choice as budget airlines proliferate in the region's increasingly crowded skies.

Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways will jostle for a piece of the action when its Singapore-based Asian discount offshoot, which is still not commercially branded, starts flying by the end of the year.

Another Singapore-based budget carrier, Valuair, already flies to Bangkok, Jakarta and Hong Kong.

"It is something which has already happened in Europe and America and we are just seeing the beginning of a new travel revolution in Asia," Robert Khoo, chief executive officer of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, told AFP.

Guerilla-style tactics
While industry players believe such heavily discounted fares are not sustainable, they agree that budget carriers will stick with guerrilla-style tactics to stay in the game.

"Low-cost carriers have to grab the headlines from time to time because consumers' memories are short," said Sim Kok Chwee, a director with the Bangkok-based Pacific Asia Travel Association.

"So from time to time, they will have to hit the gimmick button, especially when the route is being served by another low cost carrier," he said.

Even as industry players warn of an eventual bloodbath at the rate fares are being slashed, it appears none of the protagonists involved in the high-stakes battle will take a back seat anytime soon.

"We have said from the beginning that we are determined to be market leaders," Tiger Airways' chief executive Patrick Gan said. "Tiger Airways is committed to empowering more people to fly more often. We welcome our competitors to follow our example in achieving that," he said.

SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, also joined the fray on the same day that AirAsia offered its 29-cent fare to Bangkok by putting up more than 900 return tickets to the popular resort island of Phuket for about $52 excluding taxes. It is also offering special return fares of $76 to Krabi and $94 to Chiang Mai.

SilkAir is not regarded as a budget airline because it offers full services, but its latest round of promotional fares demonstrates the carrier is determined to defend its turf amid the onslaught from no-frills rivals.

Even online travel portal Zuji wants a piece of the pie. The Singapore-based firm on Friday launched a $29 return fare to Bangkok with one night's lodging provided at a three-star hotel. None of the budget carriers' promotional fares includes accommodation so far.

"It can only get more exciting for the consumers," Sim from Pacific Asia Travel Association said.

AFP